Tanzanian president John Pombe Magufuli told local media Monday that King Mohammed VI will build what would be Tanzania’s biggest stadium, an ultra modern stadium in the city of Dodoma.
“It will cost between 80 and 100 million US dollars,” President Magufuli said.
“It will be bigger and better than the current national stadium.
“I had a tete-a-tete with the visiting King and I asked him if he can help build a stadium in Dodoma … He said yes he will,” the Tanzanian president stressed.
According to a statement from the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “this lofty royal decision came as a response to a request by His Eminence Mufti Sheikh Abu-Bakr Ibn Zubayr Benali, President of the National Muslim Council of Tanzania, who expressed the need for a mosque and its facilities in Dar es Salaam.”
“The area of this religious and cultural landmark is 7,400 square meters; it includes a prayer room that accommodates more than 5,000 worshipers, a library, a conference hall, administrative facilities, a parking lot and green spaces,” Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed.
According to said source, King Mohammed VI offered 10,000 copies of the Holy Koran to the National Muslim Council of Tanzania.
The Chairman of the National Muslim Council of Tanzania, who is also a founding member of the Mohammed VI Foundation for African Ulema, gave a speech in the same day wherein he expressed his thanks and gratitude to the Moroccan monarch for building a grand mosque in Dar es Salaam and naming it after him.
A “cooperation agreement in the field of religious affairs was concluded and signed between the Mufti [of Tanzania] and the Moroccan Minister of Religious Endowments and Islamic Affairs Ahmed Toufiq. It covers traditional education, religious foundations, construction and management of mosques, exchange of experiences, and other forms of cooperation which aim to preserve authentic Islamic values and help prevent all forms of deviation and extremism,” the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted.
The Moroccan Times.
